Substantial difficulty has heretofore been encountered in providing splice arrangements for connecting segments of power cable used to supply electricity to down hole submersible pumps and other equipment. Thus, there is a need for an effective and efficient means for splicing together down hole power cable.
Presently known arrangements for splicing electrical power cables use an electrical crimp splice and insulating tapes to establish and maintain electrical connections between the conductive wires of power cable segments. The protective tapes, such as high modulus and high temperature tape, are wrapped around individual crimps and the power cable in presently known arrangements.
Other known arrangements for splicing include attaching an expandable connector that permits lineal movement of the internal segments of a power cable as shown in McHugh et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,881,079.
The cable splice arrangements presently employed are complicated in that they are difficult and time consuming to install in the field and generally incapable of withstanding the subterranean environment of a well bore over a desired period of time. In particular, the arrangements presently in use may require frequent repair or replacement because the connections are subject to failure under the extreme pressure differential, temperature conditions and high voltage stress encountered in well bore operations.